


Ookami Seinen

by maaldas



Series: HEISEI PACK [2]
Category: Hey! Say! JUMP, Johnny's Entertainment
Genre: Alpha Yabu, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, AriYama, Freeform, M/M, Werewolves, yabuhika - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:02:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27554296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maaldas/pseuds/maaldas
Summary: After retrieving Keito from the human's lab, the Heisei Pack recuperates within the safety of their Pack land but trouble doesn't end there. something terrible happens that forces the painful past of one of the pack members to resurface.This is the story of the young wolves who suffer through their journey to safety.
Relationships: Arioka Daiki/Yamada Ryosuke, Yabu Kota/Yaotome Hikaru
Series: HEISEI PACK [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1531127
Comments: 8
Kudos: 14





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> ~ Celebrating Hey!Say!Jump's ... err... HoneyBee's YouTube debut on Oktober 12th, 2020... And Jump's new album "Fab! Music Speaks" will be released on December 16th ...
> 
> ~Celebrating Hey!Say!Jump's 13th Anniversary (CD Debut day) on November 14th, today ...
> 
> I decided to continue this story depicting the young wolves~
> 
> As always all characters are purely my imagination. Though how much I wish they are, Hey!Say!JUMP err... no... HoneyBee members belong to themselves; not mine. I'm just borrowing their image here to play in my sandbox. Please don't sue me!

_The eight-year-old boy shifted into his wolf form and jumped off the window and into the cold night. Behind him, the fire burned down the only home he knew where the human family that had taken him in raised him since he was born. He did not remember his real parents or even his wolf pack so he considered this human family as his own._

_Now, they were all dead and the whole village was burning. His sharp hearing could still hear the sounds of guns and explosions from afar. There was nothing he could do other than run. He took a last look towards the burning house before running towards the woods with tears in his eyes._

_He hid in the woods for days, hiding from big tanks and gun-wielding men that sometimes came into the woods looking for who knows what. He spent most of the nights hunting small animals and slept on top of a tree branch during the day. It was not ideal but he learned to endure until he had saved enough food to go traveling. The wood behind his village was no longer safe for him. He was afraid that those humans would eventually burn the woods too just like what they did to the village._

_Therefore, he put stripes of dried rabbit meat that he had saved into the folds of his shirt before rolling it and tied it up with his belt. Then, he took off his trouser, tied both his pants and belt around his torso before shifting into his wolf form, and ran. There was a stream not far from his village. He was sure if he followed the stream he would get to the next village._

_The journey took three days. He arrived on the outskirts of the next village at the end of the third day only to find out that it was also burned to the ground with nothing left. The smell of burning woods still permeated the air and black ashes flew above the trees. The eight-year-old-boy steered clear of that village, decided to cross the small river, and went the opposite way._

_🐺_

_🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺_

**🐺**

**Present Time ...**

Yabu kept a close watch on his pack from the moment they left the human's compound until they entered their territory. On the back seat, Yuri refused to leave Daiki's lap curling his small frame to fit the older boy's slightly bigger frame while Ryosuke, who sat next to Daiki and looking very pale, leaned his head on Daiki's shoulder with his eyes closed. Hikaru and Kei were bending over Keito's limp body on the floor of the truck with Yuto fretting above them. Everybody looked worn out and worse for wear with cuts and crusted blood visible on their body.

Yuya kept his sharp eyes on the road, driving as fast as he could along the unkind terrain towards their home. Keito's condition was worrying but Yabu believes in Hikaru's healing abilities and Kei's experience in the scientific field. He hoped that those were enough to save him.

Yuya parked the car near the front door of the main house. The Heisei Pack had one big house that served as the main house with several small buildings around it for various activities. The Alpha Yabu Kota inherited the house from an old lone wolf named Odawa who chose to leave his home in the city at the start of the virus spread.

"I think we should take Keito into my lab. I can monitor his condition while I work on the data we've got from the human's lab," said Kei as he got out of the car.

"No. Let's put him in the main house for now," said Yabu Kota, overruling Kei's idea. When Kei tried to protest he continued, "No offense Kei. Your lab is cramped already and we need to monitor Keito 24/7. We can't leave it to you alone. If we put him at the main house, we can take a turn in monitoring him."

Then, Yabu grabbed Kei's shoulder and squeezed it. "We still need you to decipher the data, though. You're the only one capable enough to do it, so I want you to work on it as fast as you can," added the Pack Alpha to the Pack's resident scientist with a smile. He knew that Kei would feel useless sitting alone in his lab while the others were busy tending for Keito. He hoped that by giving him a job and a purpose Kei would feel that he was needed.

Just as Yabu predicted, his compliment worked wonders. There was a new resolve that appeared in Kei's eyes. He quickly nodded. "Un! I'll do my best, Alpha!"

They put Keito in one of the rooms inside the main house and Hikaru immediately set up his medical equipment in the room. Hikaru's parents were two of the doctors involved in treating the patients who were the victim of the viral virus. After Hikaru's father also became a victim of the same virus and the gen of the werewolf kind was in danger of being revealed, his mother took him away. She taught him everything she knew about medicine and biology, especially werewolf biology. Hikaru who had spent 10 years of his life thinking that he was a mere human was in for a shock.

"Yuto, help Ryosuke and Dai-chan sort the goods we've brought from the human's lab, while Yuri helps Kei with his data encryption," told Yabu relegating tasks and order to the rest of the Pack. He knew that Yuya would already take care of their vehicle by now and was in the process of preparing for the next hunt that night.

"I want to tend to Keito too!" protested Ryosuke.

"No. I've given you an order, Ryosuke. Go with Yuto and Dai-chan," Yabu said as he looked into Ryosuke's stubborn eyes. Ryosuke was known to challenge him now and then. He was impatient and tended to do things recklessly. Yabu thought that this personality of his would sooner or later bring a dangerous impact to the Pack. Fortunately, Daiki's easy-going nature could balance him well.

Ryosuke blinked before looking down, showing the top of his head at the Alpha as an act of deference to the Pack Alpha.

"I'll report to you once we're done sorting and cataloging the booty, Alpha," said Daiki.

"I'll leave it to you, Dai-chan," Yabu said smiling at the shorter pup.

He didn't have to say anything to the younger wolf because he was sure that Daiki knew the real reason behind his order. Ryosuke was injured and had lost a lot of blood. He needed treatment even if he was too stubborn to ask for it.

"Let's go, Yutti!" called Daiki at the tall wolf who kept staring at the room where Keito was being treated. "Ryo-chan, you need to show me how to use these guns we've brought back. You're better at those than me."

Ryosuke nodded. "Sure! I've shown you before, haven't I? You baka! You only think of food."

"Oi! I don't always think with my stomach, you know!" yelled Daiki at Ryosuke.

"Aha! So, you admit that your head is filled with food," Ryosuke said, an accusing finger right in front of Daiki's nose before the older slapped the finger away.

"It's better than a head full of cats, I'll say!"

Yuto was giggling behind them saying, "I think both are not good, Dai-chan. It's a weak argument."

"See? Even Yutti agrees with me," said Ryosuke, grinning triumphantly. While Daiki just stuck out his tongue at Ryosuke like the 5 years old that he was.

The two of them kept bickering to the warehouse at the back of the main house. Yabu was sure that the sorting work would put their mind at ease. Daiki would force Ryosuke to take some rest and make the stubborn pup eat something while Yuto would be busy being their referee, as the chaos they would undoubtedly make would keep him from worrying about Keito for a while. Daiki and Ryosuke wouldn't be called the chaotic pair for nothing.

Yabu went into the room that was now dubbed as Keito's room to check on his condition. He saw Hikaru who had finished setting up the blood transfusion and was taking a sample of Keito's blood.

"Do you think we'll need that?" asked Yabu.

"We need to check everything, Kota. We don't know what those humans had done to him. Our gen can withstand all of the human's disease but you can never know, right?" said Hikaru.

"You're right, of course."

"Besides, Kei has already gotten the data from their lab. It'll make his work faster."

Yabu nodded. "Just tell me what I can do to help. I'm all yours."

After capping the blood sample, Hikaru frowned. "I think that's all for now. Let's wait and see in a few hours."

🐺

_🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺_

_🐺_

_The young wolf walked for miles and always stayed in the woods, using the thick foliages of the trees to protect him from the prying eyes of the gun-wielding people. He had not seen them again ever since he left the second village, though, and he'd made sure to stay away from civilization to avoid contact with humankind._

_The rain suddenly poured and soon turned into a storm complete with lightning and thunder. The pup ran and found a small opening on the wall of rock. He squeezed his small body through the opening, happily finding out that the inside was a lot bigger. It was a cave. He waited inside until the rain stopped._

_🐺_

_🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺_

🐺

**Present time.... back at the Heisei Pack...**

Daiki closed the lid of the last box that he had finished cataloging. He did not realize that they have brought quite a lot of things from the human laboratory. He massaged his stiff neck and cracked his back to relieve the stiffness he felt. The place where the human scientist had stabbed with a needle still felt sore. He did not know how much of that yellow liquid had entered his system. He just pulled the needle out and threw it away. He still felt fine, though, so the stiffness was probably just due to tiredness. A round of good food and deep sleep would probably fix it.

Daiki left the warehouse after locking the door and went to look for food in the main house. Hikaru and the Alpha would probably still be busy tending to Keito and truth be told, Daiki also wanted to check on his condition. He met Yabu on his way to the kitchen.

"Ah, Yabu-san, how's Keito?" asked Daiki.

"Yuto is watching over him right now and Hika is visiting Kei in his lab. Is Ryosuke resting now?" Yabu asked him in return.

Daiki nodded. "Un! I told him to go ahead and rest at the cabin."

"So, you come here looking for food?" Yabu guessed correctly, smirking at him.

Daiki ginned. "You know me."

"Have a seat then. I'll see what we have left in the fridge."

Daiki quickly made himself comfortable at the big round dining table that they had in the living room while Yabu prepared him for some food. Despite each member having their abode, the Pack had a tradition to always have dinner together at that dining table. Every night they would each relay their activities during the day. If a problem arose, they would find a solution together.

🐺

_🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺_

_🐺_

_The young wolf crawled out of the cave and wandered around. He decided to use the cave as his temporary shelter for the time being and left his clothes and two slices of dried meat inside. If he wanted to stay away from the human establishment then needed to hunt to stay alive. Several meters from the cave's opening, he caught a scent of something familiar; the scent of another wolf._

_Curious, he followed the scent to its origin. The smell was not too strong probably due to the rain pour the day before but his instinct told him that it was the scent of his kind because the normal wolf smelt a bit different. He was excited, as he had never met another werewolf before and he found it sooner than he had expected._

_The light brown lump was not moving when the young wolf came near. He took a sniff at it and was relieved to know that it was still alive but barely. Its body was a little bit smaller than his own and was breathing shallowly. Yet, the worrying part was the amount of blood coating the fur on its stomach. The young wolf did not know how this light brown wolf survived the heavy rain yesterday but he needed to help it._

_The young wolf shifted into his human form and lifted the injured wolf's body, pressing it close to his chest sharing the warmth of his body with the poor wolf. The opening of the cave was too small for his eight years old body but he could not just leave the injured wolf outside. So, he put down the injured wolf just outside of the opening before shifting back into his wolf form, crawling inside, shifting back into his human form, and reaching out to pull the wolf's body inside the cave._

_🐺_

🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺

🐺

"Ryosuke, where's Dai-chan?" asked Yabu Alpha that night when Ryosuke and he were preparing dinner for the Pack.

"He's still sleeping. Do you want me to wake him up?"

"No, it's okay. Just let him sleep. He'll wake up when he's hungry. We can have dinner without him just once," said Yabu.

"Alpha, you're spoiling him too much. The last time I had a stomach ache and begged off dinner you sent Hikaru to drag me to the dining table," grumbled Ryosuke.

"That stomach ache was your own fault. Dai-chan got attacked. I just wanna make sure that he's alright and takes a lot of rest. By the way, how's your head?"

Ryosuke shrugged. "It's fine. Hikaru said it's mended itself nicely and I just need to eat more than I used to return my strength."

"Thank god we cook a lot tonight!"

"Ah, Ryosuke! You can take a turn in watching over Keito tonight. I've told Yuto to take some rest after dinner," Hikaru who suddenly appeared in the kitchen said.

"Sure!" Ryosuke instantly agreed.

"Did Yuto agree to it?" asked Yabu, knowing full well that the stubborn Yuto would probably try to argue.

"I threatened him a bit," told Hikaru with a cheeky grin.

Yabu smirked. "Is Yuri still with Kei?" asked Yabu again.

Hikaru peeked inside a pot of stew before fetching a spoon to have a taste. "Uh-huh, I just returned from Kei's lab. They'll be here in thirty minutes." Hikaru blew the stew on his spoon before slurping it. "Yuya has just returned from his patrol around the perimeter. He said he wanted to talk to you about something."

"Hmm... let's bring all the food to the table then."

They brought the food out to the living room and called the other Pack members, minus Daiki, to eat. Hikaru had to drag Yuto out of Keito's room.

🐺

🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺

🐺

_The young wolf kept to his human form to make it easier for him to treat the smaller wolf's wound. He went out of the cave sometimes to fetch rainwater that he collected from the tree leaves. He uses the leaves to spoon-feed the water into the smaller wolf's muzzle. He wanted to go out to hunt because he had only two stripes of rabbit meat left but afraid to leave the wounded wolf alone in the cave. He was worried that the smaller wolf would not survive without him tending to it._

_The wounded wolf finally woke up the next morning. Its weak bark had awakened him from sleep._

_"Hey, I'm glad that you're awake now. Can you shift?" asked the eight years old boy. The smaller wolf just blinked at him. "I know you're like me. You're a werewolf, right? Me too!"_

_At first, the wolf only gave him a distrustful stare but after a while, he started to see some changes in its form. Its blood-matted fur started thinning, its muzzle was shrinking, and its limbs took shapes of human's legs and arms. He was very skinny._

_The wounded wolf who was now appeared as a six years old boy fell around his stomach for his wound._

_"Has your wound healed?" asked the eight years old boy and was answered with a nod by the smaller boy. "That's great!" he exclaimed, beaming. "My name's Ryosuke what's yours?"_

_The smaller boy did not answer him. He just stared at Ryosuke quietly, making him think that the boy was probably mute. Ryosuke would be sad if that was true. Then, the boy slowly opened his mouth. With a small whispery voice, he told Ryosuke his name._

_"My ... my name ... is... Daiki..."_

_Ryosuke grinned widely at him. He had a new friend now._

_🐺_

🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺

🐺

Ryosuke burst through the front door of the main house. Hands shaking and voice trembling he screamed for Yabu.

"Alpha! Help!"

Alpha Yabu came out of the living room followed by Yuri who was in the middle of eating his breakfast. A strip of meat was still in his left hand and Ryosuke saw him still munching on his food as he stood next to Yabu.

"What's wrong, Ryosuke?" asked Yabu.

"Something's wrong with Dai-chan! He refused to wake up this morning. I've tried to shake him, even screamed in his ears but he keeps sleeping. Then, I realized that his blanket is drenched with sweat and he's breathing shallowly. Please help him! I dunno what to do..."

Ryosuke had not finished speaking when Yuri rushed past him and out of the house. He probably went straight towards Daiki and Ryosuke's cabin.

"Hika..."

"I'm on it. Let's go!" Hikaru said as he walked out of Keito's room with his medical kit box. "You stay here, Kota. Just in case Keito wakes up."

"Of course. Just go now!"

Hikaru nodded and led the way towards the cabin. "Come on, Ryosuke!"

🐺

🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺

🐺

_Daiki seemed to dislike staying in his human form. Even inside the cave, he preferred to curl up in his fur. Ryosuke understood that maybe that was because Daiki did not have any clothes and Ryosuke could not share his clothes because he only had a pair._

_The sun was up and Ryosuke went out to hunt because he had already given his last two stripes of meat to Daiki. He used to only hunt at night and hide during the day but he was worried for Daiki too._

_After a while, Ryosuke heard slow and careful steps behind him and knew that Daiki had come to follow him. He gave the smaller pup a low growl to warn him to be quiet as he was in the middle of hunting a small deer that was grazing alone. The deer's meat would fill both of their stomachs for days, especially Daiki. Ryosuke was worried about him because the other boy looked far too skinny to be healthy._

_The hunt was successful. They felled the small deer in no time and nibbled on its meat together. After Ryosuke filled his stomach, he shifted into his human form to bring the rest of the meat back to the cave._

_"Daiki, stop eating! We have to preserve the meat so it lasts longer and we don't have to hunt often."_

_However, Daiki kept burying his muzzle into the meat, refusing to listen to what Ryosuke had said to him. Until suddenly the smaller wolf stopped eating and started throwing up instead. Ryosuke was surprised._

_"I've told you to stop eating, right? Now, look what you've done to yourself!" screamed Ryosuke at him angrily while Daiki just whined pitifully._

_Ryosuke hefted what was left of the deer meat by himself and brought it back to the front of the cave with Daiki following quietly on all four behind him. Ryosuke worked quietly, stripping the meat from its bone and smoking it using a small fire that he builds near the rock wall next to the cave opening. He skewered the meat stripes onto several small sticks and smoked them above the fire._

_He looked back at Daiki who was still in his wolf form, watching him work from in front of the cave opening, and called out to him, "You can help too, you know."_

_Daiki hesitated for a moment before shifting into his human form and went near Ryosuke._

_"Keeps the fire burning, okay? Feed it with these wood sticks slowly. I'll grab some leaves. Don't touch the meat!" warned Ryosuke before leaving to get some leaves._

_Ryosuke left Daiki with the meats and went climbing some trees to get some leaves to cover the smokes. Once he collected enough of them, Ryosuke brought them back to where he left Daiki with the fire. Daiki dutifully did what Ryosuke had told him, keeping the fire burning. Ryosuke dropped all of the leaves and its branches behind Daiki and stared at Daiki's naked back with horror._

_Angry red scars decorated the skinny pale back, crisscrossing one another with crusted blood all over it. A circular reddish wound was healing slowly at Daiki's left lower back. Ryosuke could not imagine what the hell had happened to this boy that made his body suffer like that. Also, he was too skinny and malnourished that even his fast werewolf regenerative system could not heal his wounds as fast as it should._

_"Daiki... what ... what happened to you?" Ryosuke whispered as he reached out his right hand to slowly touch one of the scars on Daiki's back._

_Daiki jerked in surprise before shifting back into his wolf form before bolting away and going back into the cave._

_🐺_

_🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺_

_🐺_

**In Daiki's cabin ...**

"Aaaaaaa.... Let me go! Aaaaaaarrrggggggg............"

"Yuri, grab a rope! We need to tie his feet down!" ordered Hikaru as he was busy holding down Daiki's jerky hands above the boy's head. Yuri ran to the warehouse to get a rope while Ryosuke had already climbed on top of Daiki's torso to keep his trashing down.

Daiki's condition worsened in the past few hours. Right after Ryosuke called Hikaru for help, his temperature rose at an alarming rate. Then, he was screaming non stop while thrashing around on his bed. He kicked and punched everyone who came near him with fangs and claws unsheathed. Hikaru and Yuri got new wounds from his clawing but Ryosuke got the worst. He was clawed and bitten several times. Their struggle to hold Daiki down had managed to wreck apart the bedroom.

"Dai-chan, stop it! We're trying to help you!" screamed Ryosuke from atop Daiki's heaving chest but Daiki did not seem to hear him. Daiki kept thrashing around and screaming while his skin was still burning to the touch.

When Yuri returned with a rope, Daiki's trashing became stronger. He was finally able to free his hands from Hikaru's hold and clawed Ryosuke's chest so deep that the force of his swing had managed to throw Ryosuke off his chest and onto the floor. Then, he jumped off his bed and ran outside, pushing Yuri hard to the wall and breaking one of the wood panels.

"Yuri, are you alright?" asked Hikaru who was already helping a bleeding Ryosuke off the floor.

Yuri righted himself up, flinging debris and pieces of the wood panel away. "Un, I'm fine, just a few more scratches."

"We have to go after Dai-chan," grunted Ryosuke, ignoring his bleeding chest, and went outside to look for Daiki with Yuri and Hikaru in tow.

They found strips of torn clothing on the ground right outside of the cabin and deduced that Daiki must have shifted and run away on all four.

"Search for him!" ordered Hikaru and both Ryosuke and Yuri quickly ran in two different directions to look for their wayward Pack member. Their Pack territory was vast and surrounded by thick forest. It would take a while to look for a runaway wolf in the wilderness, especially a scared and sick wolf. Hikaru suspected that whatever had ailed Daiki was not merely physical.

Hikaru quickly took off his clothes, shifted into his wolf form, and howled, alerting the whole Pack.

🐺

_🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺_

_🐺_

_The sun started to set and Ryosuke had just finished collecting all of the smoked meat, wrapping them in layers of leaves before bringing them back into the cave. He found Daiki curling at the far corner of the cave with his back facing the wall. Ryosuke reopened the bundle of leaves and pushed it near Daiki._

_"Do you want some? You should eat some before going to sleep," Ryosuke offered._

_Daiki just stared at him for a few seconds before shifting into his human form. He bit his lower lip and looked at Ryosuke fearfully before deciding that his hungry stomach was more important than his fear, although Ryosuke had no idea why Daiki would fear him. Was it because Ryosuke had touched his scar-filled back earlier? Were those scars still painful?_

_Ryosuke watched Daiki slowly reach for a handful of meat before warning him, "I think you should eat slowly or you'll throw up again."_

_Daiki nodded and put most of the meat back into the bundle and only took two stripes. He waited until Ryosuke also took two stripes of meat before eating them. Ryosuke smiled seeing Daiki eat the meat slowly. "It's good, isn't it? My family taught me to hunt since I was very little. That's how I know all about it."_

_"Sorry..." Daiki whispered._

_"Hmm? What are you sorry for?" asked Ryosuke, genuinely confused._

_"For... not helping..."_

_"Oh, it's okay. You've helped with the hunt," said Ryosuke, smiling at Daiki but the smaller boy still looked down. Ryosuke thought he must be still upset because of the previous incident, so Ryosuke thought that he ought to apologize too. "I'm sorry for touching your back earlier. Is it still painful?"_

_Daiki curled in on himself a little bit more until he looked more like a ball before mumbling, "I'm used to it."_

_Ryosuke frowned. He did not understand what Daiki meant with he was used to it. Did he get used to the pain or the wound? He found both options were horrifying but before he could ask Daiki for further explanation, the other boy was already sleeping._

_The next few days filled with both of them lying about inside the cave that Ryosuke had dubbed as theirs. Ryosuke wanted to continue his journey but did not want to put Daiki's body in more distress than necessary. He was willing to postpone his journey until all of Daiki's wounds were healed and he had enough strength to go on a journey because Ryosuke could not just leave Daiki behind now. He did not want to._

_"Are ... are we ... safe ... here?" asked Daiki one day when both of them were sunbathing on a big tree branch._

_Daiki did not have enough strength to climb a tree, yet he insisted on following Ryosuke. So, Ryosuke had to help him up._

_"I think so," answered Ryosuke. "Do you not feel safe?" Daiki did not reply, so Ryosuke continued. "I was planning on continuing my journey when I found you."_

_"Where?" Daiki asked again._

_"Somewhere far away from those people with guns. They burned down my village, you know. My family told me to run away and not let myself get caught or it will be bad for me," told Ryosuke._

_"What ... what will they do to you?"_

_"Dunno. Something bad I reckon."_

_They both fell quiet after that before something suddenly came to Ryosuke's mind._

_"Daiki, do you have a family? I mean one that is like you and me. Werewolves."_

_"What's the family?"_

_Ryosuke was gobsmacked. How could Daiki not know what family was? "You know, mother, father, brothers or sisters..."_

_"I have a mom," Daiki said._

_"Where is she now?"_

_"Dunno."_

_"Where did you live?"_

_"In a house with glass walls."_

_Ryosuke thought Daiki's answer was weird until he heard the last one._

_"How old are you?"_

_"Ten."_

_"What?!"_

_🐺_   
_🐺_   
_🐺_

_To be continued ..._


	2. Two

**Present time ...**

Yuya had just returned from the garage and was going to visit the main house to check on Keito when he saw a light brown wolf run towards the wood. He frowned, wondering what the twins up to because those two were thick as thieves. He rarely saw one without the other and when he did, something must have been going on. The worst of it was usually a prank. Although, there were times when they were fighting and stopped speaking to one another. Those were maybe the calmest and most quiet time in the history of Heisei Pack but despite their unruliness, they worked well together and were the main hunters of the Pack. They were fast, smart, and in-sync in a hunt, hence the 'twins' nickname.

The second Yuya heard the howl; he immediately knew that something was wrong. He knew Hikaru would not just sound the alarm if it was not important and it must have something to do with the way Daiki rushed towards the woods. He quickly took off his jeans and shifted before running after Daiki.

Yuya's wolf form was bigger but Daiki was faster. He had sighted the light brown wolf several times already among the trees but Daiki could always outrun him. Then, he saw him suddenly tripped and fell on the ground, which was alarming because Daiki never tripped. He has great agility and fast reflexes, a trait possessed by all good hunters. He knew how good Daiki was because he had trained the pup himself.

Yuya barked at Daiki who had already regained his feet and prepared to run away. Daiki growled at him baring his teeth insolently. Yuya who was irritated with the younger's disrespectful behavior barked louder, asking him to stop playing around and explain himself but got even a louder growl from the younger wolf.

"Dai-chaaaaaaan..."

Yuya faintly heard Ryosuke's voice from afar calling for Daiki and he was sure that Daiki heard it too because somehow it spurned him to run again.

Yuya quickly gave chase. This time he would not let the pup get away. He took a big leap and jumped on Daiki before he ran too far. Both wolves rolled on the ground. Yuya initially just wanted to stop Daiki from running away but the younger wolf reacted aggressively, biting his leg and kicking his stomach repeatedly. Yuya lost his patience and retaliated. He clawed Daiki's muzzle and growled at him in warning but the pup did not seem to listen. He kept attacking Yuya ferociously.

Thinking that he would not get through to Daiki this way, Yuya shifted back into his human form and tackled Daiki but the younger wolf skillfully evade him before shifting into his human form too.

"That's enough, Dai-chan! I'm not in the mood to entertain your childish prank anymore. Explain yourself!" he yelled at the pup.

Daiki snarled, unsheathing his claws and baring his fangs. As Daiki's tutor, he had fought the younger wolf countless times and had even gone hunting with the twin several times. Yet, in all of those times, he had never seen him this feral. His eyes were wild and dangerous. He looked at Yuya as if the older wolf was the enemy that he needed to crush. The intent to kill was blatantly telegraphed in his every move making Yuya feel that he would be eviscerated if he made a wrong move. Yuya could not help thinking that the one who stood in front of him and staring daggers at him now was no longer the Daiki that he knew.

_🐺_

_🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺_

**🐺**

Kei arrived at the cabin where the twins usually stayed and were shocked to see the damage that was visible even from the outside, yet he could not see that anyone was there. The cabin was left empty with the front door hanging open on just one hinge. Therefore, he was surprised when Yabu suddenly emerged from the inside.

"Alpha, what's going on?" asked Kei. "I heard a howl ..."

"It's Hika. Something bad must have been going on with Dai-chan," said Yabu.

"What happens with Dai-chan?" asked Kei but instead of answering his question, Yabu gave him an order instead.

"Kei, remember the syringe with the yellow substance that I gave you the other day?" the Alpha asked.

Kei frowned. "Yes. You said to prioritize Keito so I've been keeping it in my cooling box."

"Work on it. Now. We need to know what's inside that syringe," ordered Yabu before running towards the woods.

"Sure, but where are you going?" Kei yelled at him but Yabu was already halfway into the woods behind the cabin. "One of these days, I'll demand an explanation but not today," Kei murmured and went back to his lab.

_🐺_

_🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺_

**🐺**

Yabu ran towards where his hunch told him, the woods. When Yuya approached him yesterday, bringing a syringe with yellow liquid inside, Yabu was apprehensive. Hikaru had told him about the incident in the scientist's lab but since Daiki seemed to be fine, he paid it no mind. He should have told Kei to check on that yellow liquid the moment Yuya gave it to him.

Daiki was not a stranger to an experiment. The pup had been a lab rat ever since he was born. Both Daiki and Ryosuke came to join the Heisei Pack at the same time. Hikaru was the one who had found them almost drowning in the river near the woods. Their condition was terrible, especially Daiki. The little pup was emaciated and dying. Yabu honestly thought that he would not survive. Yet, it turned out that his will to live was strong enough to carry him through a season and the next with Ryosuke never leaving his side. Hikaru had a theory that the people in Daiki's past, the ones who had given him those ugly scars on his back, intended to make his body withstand the worst but Yabu had a different thought. He believed that if it were not because of Ryosuke, Daiki would have just given up.

_🐺_

_🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺_

**🐺**

_How could a ten years old look like someone who was only six years old? Even his body was smaller than Ryosuke and he was shorter too. Those thoughts kept swirling inside Ryosuke's mind right after Daiki revealed his age. Ryosuke even tried to make sure that what Daiki had said was true. He thought perhaps Daiki made a mistake but the smaller boy insisted that he was right. According to Daiki, his mother always celebrated his birthday when he was little. She always made sure that Daiki learned his own name and his birth date._

_Daiki was ten years old. That was two years older than Ryosuke but he did not look a day older than six years old, which was weird._

_"Ryosuke, tell me about ... family," asked Daiki one late morning when they were perching on top of a tree branch eating a sweet juicy fruit that Ryosuke had picked this morning._

_"Erm... family is the people who take care of you and are always by your side. They protect you and teach you things like my father who taught me about hunting and my mother who taught me about reading and writing. But ... they weren't like me," Ryosuke said, ending his sentence with a sad note._

_"What d'you mean?" asked Daiki._

_"They're human," answered Ryosuke._

_Daiki widened his eyes and stared at Ryosuke with fear written all over his face. "Did they hit you too?" asked Daiki with a whispery voice._

_Ryosuke thought that Daiki must be shocked because for a werewolf to live peacefully with a human family was practically unheard of. That was what his family used to say to him. Ryosuke should always hide his identity from the other villagers because humans hate werewolves. Ryosuke did not know what his kind had done to make humans hate them so much. Yet, his family never hit him even once._

_"Daiki ... did ... the human ... hit you?" asked Ryosuke carefully as if afraid of hearing the answer although he could already guess when he saw the scars on Daiki's back._

_"Every day," Daiki whispered. "Until one day, more people came with loud noises breaking the glass walls. There were fires everywhere. I was scared so I ran away."_

_Silence fell as both young wolves busy with their thoughts. Ryosuke could not imagine living every day expecting a beating. From the looks of it, the human did not treat Daiki well._

_"What about your mother? You said you have a mother, right?"_

_"They took her away after my fifth birthday. I cried every day and they beat me every day to make me stop crying. I was bad. Before ... before she left, my mother told me to not cry but ... but I missed her ..." Daiki let out a sob as he cried quietly. "I'm sorry, please don't beat me..."_

_This was the first time Ryosuke heard Daiki cry and he did not know what to do._

_🐺_

_🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺_

**🐺**

**Back at the Heisei Pack ...**

Hearing a loud growl coming from his left, Ryosuke ran towards it and was shocked to see Yuya throwing Daiki to the ground. Ryosuke wanted to help him but Daiki just rolled on the ground and crouched snarling at Yuya.

"Dai-chan!" screamed Ryosuke at his best friend.

"Stay back, Ryosuke. There's something's wrong with him," warned Yuya.

"Yes, Dai-chan's sick! We wanna help him but he ran away," told Ryosuke.

"Huh?" Yuya looked at Ryosuke with a confused frown. Seeing his opponent distracted, Daiki used the moment to attack Yuya.

"Dai-chan, no!"

Ryosuke ran forward to stop Daiki from attacking Yuya but he miscalculated Daiki's power of attack that it sent him sprawling on the ground with a naked Daiki on top of him, growling menacingly. Daiki was lifting his right arm with his sharp claws ready to slash Ryosuke's face when Yuya tackled him down from the side. The older wolf held Daiki on top of him, wrapping his right arm around Daiki's neck and his left arm around Daiki's torso. The smaller wolf screamed and snarled wildly trying to get away from his headlock.

Ryosuke tried to go near but was kicked in the stomach for his trouble. Daiki clawed Yuya's right arms to get his neck free, splattering his own chest with Yuya's blood. He elbowed Yuya's temple several times and rolled away once Yuya's hold on him was lessening but Ryosuke did not give him a respite. He jumped on Daiki's back, pushing him down on the ground, grabbing both Daiki's wrist in his hands, and holding him down with his weight.

"Dai-chan, stop! It's me!" screamed Ryosuke in his ear but Daiki did not seem to listen. He just growled louder and buckled up, trying to shake Ryosuke off his back.

Daiki bent his knees and Ryosuke felt his stomach muscles contract a few seconds before he was flipped on his back. Ryosuke quickly rolled away successfully avoiding Daiki's clawed swipe and quickly righting himself up but Daiki moved faster. He quickly charged at him and the next thing Ryosuke knew, his feral best friend's claws had already pierced through in between his rib cages while pushing his back onto a tree.

"Aaaaakk..."

Ryosuke screamed in pain as he could feel Daiki's claws stab through his vital organs that he did not dare to move lest his insides were torn up even more. He grabbed hold of both of Daiki's wrists, preventing his claws from piercing through his insides even further.

"Dai ... Dai-chan ... pleaseee... it's me... Ryosuke..." Ryosuke pleaded.

Daiki snarled at him. His sharp fangs gleamed only a few centimeters from Ryosuke's face. From this close, Ryosuke could see that there was no recognition in his best friend's eyes. Daiki's pupils were dilated and there was some kind of yellowish sheen coating his entire sclera.

Ryosuke gritted his teeth. He tried hard to keep his inner wolf at bay because Daiki was not himself at the moment but the pain was unbearable that he could not help but lash out. He rammed his forehead against Daiki's as hard as he could, using the momentum to push the claws out of his body and slash Daiki's chest with his own set of claws.

Dropping down on his knees clutching his bleeding chest, Ryosuke took a stuttering breath and groaned in pain when he felt his wounds start to mend. Yuya, who had regained his equilibrium, was now resuming his fighting with Daiki, trying to subdue the feral wolf. Ryosuke was going to help Yuya when he caught movement from the corner of his eye. He heaved a relieved sigh as he saw Yabu came running at them.

"Ryosuke, are you alright?" asked Yabu intensely while assessing Ryosuke's injuries while Ryosuke, seeing his Alpha had come to help, felt like crying. He had almost given up when he could not see recognition in Daiki's eyes. If his best friend did not recognize him then how could he get through to him?

"Alpha, Dai-chan... he ..."

"I know. Just stay here. I'll handle it," Yabu said and Ryosuke could only nod at him.

From where he sat, Ryosuke could see that Yuya had managed to hold Daiki down but the smaller wolf once again could get away by biting Yuya's shoulder. Before he could run, Yabu quickly stepped in. He clawed on Daiki's left shoulder blade with his right hand, sank his left claws into the meat of one of his thighs before lifting the smaller wolf over his head and throwing him down hard on the ground face first. The Alpha did not give Daiki a chance to regroup as he quickly seized the feral wolf's left hand, twisting it on his back before grabbing Daiki's right shoulder to flip his body up and trap his left hand between his own back and the ground.

Yuya helped Yabu hold down Daiki's injured left shoulder down so that he could not free his left arm while Yabu grabbed hold of his right wrist, holding it down above his head. Both Yabu and Yuya trapped Daiki's leg each, preventing him from buckling up.

Daiki growled and snarled at both of them as he tried to wiggle free but try as he might he could not get away from their hold.

"Stand down, pup! Stand down, I tell you!" ordered Yabu as he grabbed Daiki's hair and hit the back of his head repeatedly onto the ground before grabbing his neck and choking his air passage.

Yabu leaned down, looming his face in front of Daiki before growling at him with his deep Alpha voice. "Listen to me, Daiki. This is your Pack Alpha. Calm yourself down or I'll be forced to hurt you more."

Ryosuke held his breath fighting the strange urge inside him to put his head on the ground and succumb. It was very rare for Yabu to use his Alpha voice on any Pack member. Ryosuke had been on the receiving end of it once and he never wanted to experience it again. He had spent the first eight years of his life living among humans and never learned how a wolf Pack worked. In a wolf Pack, a Pack Alpha had the full authority and his words were law. He had learned it the hard way.

_🐺_

_🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺_

**🐺**

_Slowly and quietly, Ryosuke crept to where Daiki perched on a tree branch above him and sat behind the smaller boy. Daiki swiftly buried his face in Ryosuke's chest while wrapping his skinny arms around Ryosuke's back. Ryosuke held his breath and did not dare to move._

_There were three people on the ground; two of them were seen holding a kind of firearm while the one wearing a white coat was barking orders at the other two._

_"Search around! He's injured and won't be able to go far," ordered the man in a white coat._

_"Sir, we've found a small opening on the rock wall but it's too small for a ten years old boy to enter," reported one of the firearms wielding men._

_Ryosuke heard Daiki gasp and he quickly tightened his hold around Daiki to calm him down._

_"Don't underestimate him. He can make himself smaller. Take me to it!"_

_Ryosuke waited until the three men had walked far away from the tree where Daiki and he hid._

_"Come on, Daiki. Let's get off this tree!" whispered Ryosuke._

_Daiki tightened his arms around Ryosuke's chest whispering tearfully, "I'm scared."_

_"I know you're scared, Daiki but we need to run now. They'll look for us when they find my clothes inside our cave," whispered Ryosuke insistently. He pushed Daiki away from his chest and looked into the smaller boy's round eyes. "They're looking for you. I don't want them to take you away. We'll run together, okay?"_

_Ryosuke felt relief when Daiki slowly nodded even though he knew that Daiki was still scared but he would not let those cruel humans get their hands on Daiki again. He helped Daiki jump down, quickly shifted into their wolf form, and ran._

_🐺_

_🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺_

**🐺**

to be continued ...

Please hang on guys ...


	3. Three

  
  
  
  


**In the basement cage located under a small brick house in front of the main house ...**

"Do we have to put him in that cage? Is it really necessary?" protested Ryosuke from outside the cage as Yabu and Yuya struggled to put a threshing Daiki into their underground cage and put shackles on his legs and wrists.

Yabu ignored him, though. He knew that Ryosuke was worried but he could not address his concern just then. They decided to bring Daiki to the underground cage with many considerations. One of the main reasons was the safety of the Pack. Since Daiki was not himself, they could not hold him responsible for his action and Yabu was sure that the pup would feel terrible guilt when he knew that his action had put the Pack in jeopardy even though it was involuntary. This way, they could prevent him from hurting himself as well as his Pack mates.

After making sure that the shackles around Daiki were secure, Yuya touched his arm and nodded, quietly asking permission to leave the place. Yabu nodded at him.

"Please go to the lab and ask Kei about the progress of his work regarding the yellow substance," asked Yabu.

"Yuya wait!" Hikaru suddenly called, halting Yuya who was already halfway up the stairs.

The Pack's resident healer hurriedly went into the cage with an empty syringe in his hand. Yabu had to threaten Daiki again to make the pup cooperate with Hikaru who wanted to take his blood sample. Hikaru capped the syringe full of Daiki's blood before giving it to Yuya. "Tell Kei to check this too and to turn on his com. I need to discuss something with him," said Hikaru.

"Sure, I'll tell him your messages." With that parting line, Yuya ran out of the basement.

Yabu watched Hikaru palpated Daiki's heaving chest and shoulder inspecting the pup's wounds.

"The fever is stable at least. Interesting," murmured Hikaru.

"What is?" asked Yabu.

"His regenerative system works faster than normal and his heartbeat also beats twice as fast," explained Hikaru.

"He's scared," Yabu made a guess.

"Yes... or ...something else..." Hikaru trailed off. He moved to check on Daiki's eyes and got an aggressive response from a shackled pup.

Daiki squirmed around testing the strength of his shackles by pulling on them. He growled at Hikaru and tried to bite him when the older wolf got closer to his face. "Calm down Dai-chan. I'm just gonna check your eyes," said Hikaru softly as if trying to calm an upset dog but his soft words had no effect whatsoever on the feral wolf. Yabu had to hold Daiki's head down to prevent him from attacking and biting Hikaru's hand.

"There's a flimsy yellowish sheen on his sclera. I've never seen something like this," murmured Hikaru under his breath but still loud enough for Yabu who sat close to him to hear it.

"How's Dai-chan, Hikaru? What happens with him?" asked a worried Ryosuke.

Hikaru took a deep breath before addressing Ryosuke. "I don't know, yet but I can already guess what substance is causing it. I just don't expect this reaction from Dai-chan," admitted Hikaru with a frown.

Yabu stared at Hikaru, processing his words. If Hikaru had known about what had caused Daiki's condition then could it be ...

"Keito?" asked Yabu when the dots in his brain began to connect with one another. Hikaru could already guess the cause of Daiki's condition because he had seen it in Keito. Yet, there was something that bothered him. "But Keito's not feral, though."

"He could be in the beginning. Or Dai-chan is just an anomaly considering ..."

Although Hikaru did not finish his sentence, Yabu knew what was on his mind. The Pack's healer was referring to Daiki's dark past.

"Dai-chaaaannnn... please be okay..." whimpered Ryosuke from outside the cage. The poor boy was slumping on the ground, clutching the bars of the cage tightly while his eyes never left his best friend's shackled form and his tears ran down his cheeks unchecked.

Yabu's heart went out to him. He could understand Ryosuke's pain of seeing his best friend going feral like that. Both Daiki and Ryosuke shared a history of pain and struggle against human cruelty. They had fought hard to escape from the pursuit of evil humans together. If Hikaru did not stumble on them that fateful winter morning, Heisei Pack would not have known Daiki and Ryosuke.

"Hika, can't you give him something to knock him out?" pleaded Yabu. Hearing Daiki's wails and seeing him thrashing around in his shackles trying to break free had successfully torn his heart. Yabu could not imagine what it did to Ryosuke and he could not do anything to help.

Hikaru let out a sigh. "It's a new substance, Kota. We still don't know for sure what it does to our body. Giving him sedative right now is tantamount to giving human belladonna. At any rate, we won't be able to progress before we get the result from Kei," told Hikaru regretfully.

A few seconds later, Hikaru exclaimed suddenly. "Ah, Kei-chan!" Finger tapping his left ear, He glanced at Yabu, signaling to him that Kei had contacted him through their communication pin.

Hikaru stepped out of the cage followed by Yabu who then closed and locked the door with a steel padlock. Yabu squeezed Ryosuke's shoulder before leaving to follow Hikaru out of the basement. There was no use to persuade Ryosuke to leave the basement anytime soon. He could force him but Yabu did not want to. If history would repeat itself, Ryosuke's presence near Daiki would probably help.

_🐺_

_🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺_

**🐺**

In Kei's lab, the resident scientist was busy analyzing the yellow substance that Yabu had given him. Kei was the former assistant of a human scientist named Dr. Bloom. The doctor had already known about Kei's identity as a werewolf but had never made it into a problem. Kei still remembered the first time the good doctor came to live at Kei's orphanage. It was at the start of the war and Kei was just a wee little boy who did not understand anything about the world. Kei's orphanage was located on a farm that was far away from the big city and Dr. Bloom rented the empty warehouse beside the barn that was used to store old and broken farming machines. He said he needed the quietness of the village life to concentrate on his work.

Many kids come and go and especially with the war going on there were more and more children lost their family and became orphans but Kei made sure that he stayed. He was attracted to Dr. Blooms' work and once he was old enough to go to school, he asked the doctor to allow him to help. Dr. Bloom was more than happy to have an assistant even if he was just a kid at the time and cannot do anything other than cleaning the beakers and sweeping the floor but he was willing to learn and the doctor was already old. He learned a lot from him than from school and spent more and more time in the warehouse that was converted into a laboratory than in the main orphanage house.

A knock on the glass door startled him and Kei quickly went to the door to unlock it, grumbling all the way. "They want me to quickly work on the yellow substance but keep disturbing me every now and then."

He pursed his lips when he saw Yuya standing behind the door, disheveled and with crusted blood all over his bare chest and arms. He let the man in, commenting on his disheveled and bloody appearance. "You look like shit."

Yuya snorted. "You will look the same or even worse after you fight a feral werewolf."

"No, thank you. I love peace," Kei quipped.

"Says the guy who bombed three acres of a human's facility building," Yuya snarked back at him.

"What can I say? I'm just awesome," Kei replied with a wink. "Keep the blood out of my equipment, please."

"Un," Yuya replied briefly.

"What the hell happened anyway? I met Yabu earlier but he didn't tell me anything. Just told me to work on the yellow substance that he got from you."

"Dai-chan turned feral. Here, Hikaru asked me to give this to you," Yuya muttered, handing him a vial of blood.

Kei lifted his eyebrows in surprise and quickly took the vial from Yuya. "This is Dai-chan's blood I presume?" asked Kei while inserting a few drops of the blood from the vial into one of his machines to get its reading.

"Yes."

"What's in the name of the full moon happens with this Pack? First Keito went missing and now that we get him back, Dai-chan turned feral. What next?" murmured Kei quietly.

"Uh ... how long will it be until you can get the result?" asked Yuya conversationally but Kei knew that the man was nervous as he could not keep himself still, always moving around and touching Kei's equipment here and there.

"If you can't stay still, please leave. Your anxiousness is making me nervous. It'll be awhile until I get the result," scolded Kei lightly.

"I'm sorry. I'll leave you to it, then." Yuya moved to leave the lab but when he got to the door, he quickly turned around. "Oh, almost forget. Hikaru asked you to turn on your com."

Yuya shrugged before hurriedly vacating the facility. Kei smirked at the man's behavior. Yuya hated anything related to medicine, experiment, and laboratory. Kei did not know what his problem was but from the first time he knew the wolf, Yuya had been that way. Usually, Kei enjoyed teasing him just to get a reaction out of him but not this time. There were still many things to do with so little time. Like Keito's blood samples that still need to be analyzed and cross-checking the result later to the data that they had got from the Human's lab facility. Now, with the arrival of the newest blood sample from Daiki who had apparently turned feral, Kei did not have time to play around.

He did not know the details of the attack since he was stationed outside of the human's compound for the duration of the raid but it looked like they did not return unscathed and was now facing the consequence. He reached for the communication pin in his drawer and put it on his left ear.

"Yes, Hikaru?"

_🐺_

_🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺_

**🐺**

Yuri sat on the stairs, wrapping his arms around his body, listening quietly to the cries and snarls of his kindhearted friend Daiki. He did not dare to look at the shackled feral werewolf inside the cage and just watched Ryosuke who sat on the ground in front of the cage's door, pressing his forehead on the cold bars, hands clutching at the bars tightly that his fingers turned white.

When Yuri joined the Heisei Pack as the last member, Daiki and Ryosuke were already inseparable. The other Pack members called them the twins partly because they were the best hunters the Pack had and they work well together in a hunt but that was not the only reason why they were called twins despite having no resemblance to each other in terms of look. Their human form was similar in height and appearance while their wolf form also had similar markings on their coat. Daiki's coat was light brown and Ryosuke's was brownish grey.

Yet, their similarities did not end there. Daiki and Ryosuke were both protective of each other and did not trust others easily. Yuri remembered what Keito had told him a few weeks after he joined the Pack. Yabu Alpha had put Keito in charge of initiating Yuri into the Pack's life and the quiet wolf had warned him that gaining the twin's trust was not easy. He had to do it carefully and not rush it. Even Keito could not penetrate the wall that they had built around themselves even though he knew them longer than Yuto, Kei, and Yuri.

A long and pitiful wail that came out of Daiki's lips pulled Yuri's attention to the shackled wolf. Daiki thrashed around and pulled on his shackles, struggling to get out of them. Clawing the hard-packed ground beneath him and kicking it repeatedly, he arched his back high with a curdling scream out of his lips that ripped up Yuri's heart.

"Dai-chaaaannn... please hold on. I'm here ...Dai-chan ... "

Ryosuke banged on the bars, pulling on the steel door trying to get inside. When the door refused to budge, he crawled around the cage before shoving his arms inside trying to reach for Daiki's flailing hands. Blood spilled on the ground, some even splattered the cage's bars as Daiki's claws shredded his skin but Ryosuke refused to let go. He gritted his teeth and kept holding onto his best friend's wrist, calling his name over and over.

Yuri, who could not bear to see their pain any longer, ran out of the basement with tears in his eyes. He almost collided with Yuto who was just entering the brick house.

"I don't think you should go inside Yutti," mumbled Yuri as he passed by the taller werewolf.

Yuto grabbed his shoulder and turned his body to face him asking, "Why? I just wanna see Dai-chan. Alpha said that they've shackled him in the basement cage because he's turned feral but no one tells me more about it. Was it as bad as Keito?"

Yuri wanted to tell him that what he was going to see down there in the basement was even worse than Keito but his voice got stuck in his throat. He could only let out a sob that made the worry on Yuto's face even more prominent. Yuri's chest felt increasingly tight, making it even harder for him to catch his breath. He shook Yuto's hands away and left, ignoring Yuto's call.

_🐺_

_🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺_

**🐺**

_Ryosuke stood protectively over Daiki's limp form on the wet ground, snarling at the men holding various kinds of firearms surrounding them. When they thought that they had managed to run away, one of those armed men spotted them and quickly shot at them. They didn't move fast enough and one of those bullets hit Daiki's upper left leg. Daiki who had not recovered from his previous wounds straightly fell down and could not get up anymore. Ryosuke knew that his friend was still alive from his labored breathing._

_"Shoot it too but don't kill it. I need them for my experiment," said the middle-aged man with a white coat. "I never thought that I'd get another lab rat," the man chuckled._

_Ryosuke had promised Daiki that he would not let them take him back. He would fight them until his dying breath. The man in a white coat was the leader. If he could take him down then, perhaps they could get away. He crouched down, sighting his prey's weakest point and jumping to attack. The white-coated man was surprised and late to react before Ryosuke's fangs clamped on his jugular._

_Screams wailed in his ears accompanied by the deafening sounds of gunshots. Ryosuke registered at least five bullets embedded in his body but he clamped his jaw tight. Warm blood soaked his muzzle and flooded his throat but he did not let go until the hands that were hitting his head repeatedly seconds ago had stopped moving and the jerking of his prey had ceased. When his consciousness started to wane, he felt a cold metal was pressed on his head._

_"Stop! Don't kill it!" shouted one of the men._

_"But it killed Giles," protested the man with the gun pointed at Ryosuke's head._

_"We hunt them down and shoot at them and you expect them not to fight back? So, Giles died. But our order is to bring the object of experiment back," his colleague reminded him._

_The gun-wielding man groaned. "Dr. Roe will be so mad."_

_"No, he won't. Because we bring him two creatures instead of one."_

_The last thing that was on Ryosuke's mind before everything went black was regret. He regretted not being able to fulfill his promise to Daiki and worried about who would protect Daiki after he died._

_🐺_

_🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺_

**🐺**

To be continued ...

It's almost finished guys but we'll get to another tear jerker episode again before the end. See ya!


	4. Four

**Back at the Heisei Pack ....**

Determined to get far away from the brick house where the basement was built, Yuri walked towards the woods. He did not care where he was going as long as he put some distance between himself and that blasted cage. He kept on walking until he arrived at Yuya's treehouse and the owner of the treehouse jumped down from his terrace right in front of him.

Yuri who was still deep in his own mind jumped in surprised by the sudden appearance of the older wolf. Stumbling clumsily on his own feet and almost falling if Yuya did not swiftly reach for him.

"Watch for your surroundings, will you?" scolded the older wolf, but his voice was soft, so Yuri did not think he was upset at him.

"I ... I'm sorry. My mind was ..." Yuri gestured at his head and Yuya just nodded. This was what Yuri loved about the older wolf. Yuya was a werewolf with so few words but he understood many things about the pack and its members even without them telling him anything.

"I'm going to go on a hunt. D'you wanna come?" offered Yuya.

Yuri thought that he would be of no use for anyone now anyway, so might as well do something productive to clear his mind. Besides, Yuya was a great hunter. He could learn a thing or two about hunting from him. From the first time he joined the pack, he had never been assigned hunting work. His usual task was usually if not researching something in Kei's lab then helping Yuto with maintenance or maintaining the garden with Keito. Not that he didn't enjoy working with those three. Yuto and Keito were fun to work with and the Pack's self-proclaimed scientist was quirky enough to be interesting. Not to mention that he was also very smart but Yuri wanted to be able to hunt too. What kind of werewolf did not know how to hunt?

They set forth immediately. Yuya chose a hunting ground that was a bit far from their compound but still near their Pack territory. Yuri did not ask him why he chose that particular hunting ground. He reckoned Yuya must have his own reason.

"How many times have you gone on a hunt?" asked Yuya out of the blue.

"Just twice," answered Yuri shortly. Then, he thought that he probably had to explain further if he wanted Yuya to share his knowledge with him. "Once with Alpha and the other time was with Keito and Yuto. I mostly just help them with hauling the meat back to the main house, though."

"Might as well teach you, then." Yuya swept his gaze around the field before crouching down on the ground and signaling Yuri to do the same next to him. "Did Yabu teach you how to track your hunt?"

Yuri nodded. "Un!"

"Good! Now, show it to me!"

Yuri was excited to be given a chance to show off his skill and quickly concentrated on his task, applying all that he had learned from the Alpha. Yabu Alpha was a decent enough hunter on his own but Yuya was still the better hunter, not counting the twins. The hunt was successful of course. He had Yuya with him. He did not think that the result would be the same if he did it alone. They felled a wild boar. Well, Yuya let him have the killing blow. When he stood proudly above the dead boar, his heart felt lighter already. It was probably why Yuya took him along in his hunt. He must have known that Yuri was distressed.

"Great hunt, chibi!" praised the older wolf.

Yuri was so happy for the success of his hunt that hearing the teasing word coming from Yuya could not diminish his happiness. He gladly carried the wild boar on his shoulder refusing any help whatsoever from the older and taller wolf.

"Thank you so much! If not because of you, I wouldn't be able to do this," said Yuri gratefully, beaming as they walked back to their compound side by side.

"You did the tracking on your own. You deserve it," replied Yuya in modesty. "But not all of the hunt was easy like this. There's still a lot that you need to learn."

"Of course!" Then, a thought came to him. "You thought Dai-chan to hunt too, right?"

"I taught him many things."

"How was he?" asked Yuri curiously.

Yuya burst into laughter. "Are you comparing yourself?"

Yuri felt his face become hot and flushed due to embarrassment. He could not help but feel competitive towards the twins.

"He's stubborn, that pup. Failed so many times but never gave up. His endurance to pain is amazing," Yuya elaborated. "Dai-chan had some trouble understanding things, even the most basic things but once he caught on to it, he absorbed it like a sponge."

"But you never taught Ryosuke?"

"Nope. Yabu and Hikaru took responsibility over him the moment we found them," Yuya admitted before letting out a long sigh. "It was bad back then. I'm sure you've heard all about it from Keito."

"Keito refused to tell me anything because he didn't wanna betray Ryosuke's trust. He said that I need to ask them myself," grumbled Yuri. He was upset that the Pack members who seemed to know about it refused to tell him anything and he did not feel like asking the Alpha while Hikaru always changed the subject whenever he mentioned the twins' past.

"Why didn't you?"

"You know how Ryosuke is," complained Yuri with a pout. "Moreover, Dai-chan becomes very quiet whenever anyone mentions it and it makes Ryosuke angry. He's scary when he's angry."

Again, Yuya burst into another laugh and Yuri could only gawk at him. He had never been close with Yuya before and always thought that the surly wolf was anti-social because he always seemed to prefer being alone than hanging out with other wolves in the Pack. Who knew that talking with him turned out to be so much fun.

"Ryosuke does exude a threatening aura to anyone who doesn't know him," Yuya agreed. "He's only nice to wolves who's nice to Dai-chan and even that's still debatable but since Dai-chan seemed to like you, I don't think you'll have any problem with Ryosuke."

"Easy for you to say," Yuri muttered.

_🐺_

_🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺_

**🐺**

_The first thing registered in his brain when Ryosuke regained his consciousness was the clinical smell of chemicals mixed with the rancid smell of blood. There was a whirring sound nearby too accompanied by a sound of rhythmic beeping that seemed to be in tune with the throbbing in his head._

_He heard someone nearby say, "He's waking up, doctor. There's a spike on his brain activity monitor a moment ago."_

_Ryosuke refused to acknowledge this statement and stayed quiet instead. He was surprised that he was still alive and wondered what these awful humans planned to do to him and Daiki. Speaking of Daiki, Ryosuke sharpened his senses and tried to surreptitiously scent the whole room. He scented at least four humans in the room and though it was faint, he could also detect Daiki's scent. He did not know Daiki's condition yet but was relieved nonetheless when he knew that at least Daiki was in the same room with him. There was this tingling sensation in various parts of his body as a sign that his wounds were in the process of healing. He wondered if these humans had pulled out the bullets because he could not feel them anymore._

_"Doctor, its regenerative system works faster than object A. All of his wounds are already scabbing within a few hours and now in the proliferative phase," reported one of the humans in the room._

_"Quick! Prepare for the first stage. We need to fully numb its senses before it regains its strength!"_

_Hearing that, Ryosuke jerked awake and quickly shifted into his human form, breaking away from his contraption. The humans shouted in surprise as they scrambled to contain him. He found himself on a flat steel operation table and was hooked into various machines that were now shrieking loudly as cables and tubes were pulled and unplugged. knives, syringes, and scalpels scattered onto the linoleum floor after he kicked away the tools tray. Armed with his claws, he slashed anyone who dared to come closer to him while looking around the room for any sign of Daiki._

_There was another steel table on the other side of the room where a small light brown mass of fur laid unmoving. Ryosuke jumped from the operation table intending to go to the other table to see Daiki._

_"Stop it! Don't let it get away!" shouted someone._

_A man jumped on his back and pushed him down on the floor. Ryosuke struggled to get up. He elbowed the man's stomach and twisted his hips to shake him off his back. He turned over, grabbed the man's arm, and bit it, pushing his fangs deep into his flesh before shredding the length of his right arm with his claws._

_"Aaaaaaaaaaaaarrgghh..." the man screamed as blood spurted and quickly drenched his white robe._

_A metal hammer swung at Ryosuke's temple, dislodging his bite on the man's arm. The crack of his cranium resonated loudly in his head, sending him into momentary disorientation as sounds and images jumbled randomly in his brain. Despite that, Ryosuke still tried to get up. The steel table where Daiki laid down was in and out of his vision. Ryosuke reached out his hand towards it; painstakingly pulled his body forward and crawled on the slippery floor amidst blood and other tools that littered it._

_Suddenly, a jolt of electric current originating from his back attacked his system. It ran through his body, bombarding his synapses with numbing shock and paralyzing his limbs. It felt like it went on for hours before the current left his system leaving him slumped back on the cold floor. His lungs felt tight as he struggled to suck in some air. He could still feel a residual jolt of electric shock all over his nerves that made it difficult for him to control his limbs._

_"What are you imbeciles doing? Don't just stand there! Get him back on the contraption!" Ryosuke faintly heard someone shout._

_The humans in white robes hurriedly pulled his hands and legs, lifting him up and putting him back on top of the operation table before securing his unresisting limbs in a set of contraptions that were bolted to the steel table._

_"Why didn't we just electrocute it from the beginning?" grumbled one of them as the man was locking in Ryosuke's left wrist._

_"We need it fresh and untampered. The electric shock, although doesn't bring the same detrimental effect to them like it is to humans, still disrupts its regenerative mechanism. We've learned that from experimenting with exhibit A," explained an old man who looked to be in his late fifties to the other humans._

_"Yeah, yeah I know but it won't be able to attack us," complained the man. "Damn it! My chest got slashed. It hurt!"_

_"Wimp! It barely scratches you while my arm won't stop bleeding," another man said while showing his shredded right sleeve and bleeding arm underneath._

_"I guess we just got used to a docile object like exhibit A," commented the old man. "Ian, get your arm treated now while we secure and prepare object B."_

_"Yes, doctor."_

_Ryosuke smiled when the human called Ian left the room to treat his wounds. His limbs were all secured and he still felt weak from the shock but he was happy that he could inflict pain on them. Although, it was far less compared to what they had done to him and Daiki._

_"What do you smile for, you beast?!"_

_The complaining man grabbed a scalpel from the floor and pushed its sharp point to Ryosuke's neck. Blood started to trickle from the artificial wound made by the scalpel. Ryosuke felt the metal was pushed deeper into his throat before the doctor's hand stopped it._

_"Stop it, Luca!" ordered the doctor. "Just focus on your task."_

_The man called Luca sneered at Ryosuke with contempt in his eyes a moment before he roughly pulled out his scalpel, cutting Ryosuke's skin wider because of it. It barely stung but Ryosuke vowed to make them all pay._

_🐺_

_🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺_

**🐺**

Yuto stood quietly next to the wall across the room from Keito's bed, staring blankly at nothing and tilting his head to the left. His face scrunched up as he thought hard about the event that happened in the past few weeks, starting from two and half a month ago when they first realized that Keito went missing.

"You look like a dog with a digestion problem," commented Hikaru as the pack healer flitted about Keito's bedroom, checking on his condition.

Under Hikaru's and the pack's constant care, Keito's condition was improving. Although, it would still be a while for him to return to the peak of his health, at least he no longer looked like death warmed over. His skin had slowly regained its color and the hollow spots all over his body started filling in. Hikaru said that now that they knew what had caused his condition, they could treat it better. Kei had worked all day and night for three days in a row before his research finally came to fruition. Hikaru and he then spend another three days to find the right antidote to counter the poisonous chemicals that ran through Keito's system. Both of them barely slept and had to be forced to eat by the other Pack members.

Yuto ignored Hikaru's jab at him and asked the older wolf a question that had plagued his mind for the past few hours.

"If the poison has already been countered by the serum that you and Kei have made, how come Keito hasn't regained consciousness?" asked Yuto curiously.

"Well, Keito was at the lowest point of his health the time we found him. He almost died, right?"

Yuto nodded.

"His regenerative system was at an all-time low, almost non-existent since his body's main priority at the time was to fight the poisonous chemicals from eating away his organs and to keep him alive. I don't know what they did to him that made his condition like that. Since our body's defense system is different from humans, their illnesses and diseases don't affect us. So, it takes a lot of effort for them to manufacture a certain chemical to poison us," explained Hikaru.

"So, Keito's body is now ..."

"Mending itself slowly. His regenerative system is booting up slowly but steadily," Hikaru continued. The shorter wolf then stood next to Yuto and patted his shoulder. "Come, let's see what our mighty Alpha had cooked for us."

Yuto followed Hikaru out of Keito's room and to the dining room to see Kei had already there with the upper half of his body slumped on the big round table. He looked to be sleeping but Yuto could hear him grumble when Yuri slapped his back to wake him up.

"Stop slapping me! I'm sooo hungry!" Kei moaned.

"Then you should eat. Look at this juicy meat, look!" Yuri tempted him by dangling a stripe of meat in front of Kei's nose.

"I'm too tired and sleepy to be able to eat properly," Kei whined again.

Yuya who just entered the room directly made a beeline towards the two of them and pinched Kei's nose. Kei scrunched up his face but refused to open his eyes. Yuya kept pinching his straight long nose until his lung was in desperate need of oxygen and took a breath of air by opening his mouth. Yuya quickly snatched the meat from Yuri's fingers and stuffed it into his mouth.

"Mmmppp!" Kei slapped Yuya's hand away while Yuya just smirked at him and walked to his seat. "You ... nomm... boorish, mmnom... uncouth being!"

Yuto and Yuri laughed at the comical look of Kei cursing at Yuya with a mouth full of meat.

"You ask it yourself Kei-chan!" Yuto teased, still giggling looking at how swear words still came out Kei even though his mouth was busy chewing the meat while Yuya looked indifferent.

"Here Kei, have some more, ne!" Yuri grabbed a plate and piled a lot of food on top of it before pushing it in front of Kei.

"I think you should rest after you eat, Kei. You've been staying up non-stop for these past few days," advised Hikaru who was busy packing an assortment of meats, veggies, and fruits into a wooden box, making a bento.

"I can't. Still need to make a little tweak on my latest batch of serum for Dai-chan," Kei mumbled while his hand reached for more food from the plate prepared by Yuri.

Yabu came out of the kitchen with two large plates of grilled fish and put them in the middle of the table.

"No, Kei. You need some rest. Tell him Alpha," insisted Hikaru, asking their Alpha for help.

"Yay! Fish!" Yuri exclaimed softly, smiling wide at Yuto.

Yuya quietly stood and distributed the fish to all of them evenly. They rarely had fish in their daily menu because none of them was a good fisherman. However, on rare occasions, Alpha Yabu sometimes took the time to go to the river to catch some fish. It would become a treat and they would fight for the fish that their Alpha cooked for them.

"Arigato Yuya!" said Yuto gratefully. "This is nice. How long has it been since we ate fish, anyway?"

"Mmm... nom nom... too long..." murmured Yuri with a mouth full of delicious fish meats.

"Kei, I forbid you to enter the lab until tomorrow. Hikaru can continue your research," ordered Yabu.

Kei still looked unsure as he frowned at his plate of food quietly, slowly shredding the fish with his chopstick. Yuto knew that Kei was very serious about his research and experiment. It must be hard for him to leave everything to Hikaru especially at a critical time like this where the result of his research was one of the determining factors to save one of their pack members.

"Don't worry, Kei-chan. You've meticulously left notes about your research progress, right? And I've been with you throughout the process. I know what I'm doing," assured Hikaru.

"Kei..." Yabu waited until Kei looked at him before continuing, "It'll be fine. I need you to be in your top shape by at least the day after tomorrow. Yuya can accompany you to make sure that you have proper rest."

"No," Yuya interjected, outrightly refused.

"I don't need chaperone Alpha," Kei immediately stated. Then, he took a deep breath and stared at Hikaru intently. "Alright Hikaru, I'll prepare everything before I go up to my studio above the lab tonight. I trust you, Hikaru. Please wake me when there's something, anything happens, okay?"

"I'll try not to disturb you," said Hikaru instead with a smirk. The healer chuckled when he saw the way Kei narrowed his eyes distrustfully at him.

Reluctantly, Kei relented and kept his protest because Yuto knew that he disliked confrontation. He knew that Kei wouldn't dare to openly challenge Alpha's order. If he really felt strongly about something, the pack's resident scientist would try to make a counter-argument backed with evidence and scientific facts. Yuto was glad that Kei finally agreed to take some time off to have a well-needed rest because he did not think that he would hold on if he kept going on his pace like this.

"Yuto, give this food to Ryosuke after you've finished eating," ordered Hikaru after putting two pieces of grilled fish into the bento box.

"Sure!" Yuto nodded readily.

"How long will you let Ryosuke stay in that basement, Alpha?" asked Yuya.

Yabu let out a sigh. He seemed to be thinking of something before looking at Yuya decidedly. "Would you like to try to tempt him out?" offered Yabu instead.

Yuya gave him a contemplative stare before shrugging and continuing to eat as if nothing happened. Yuto shook his head exasperatedly as he failed to understand what had just transcribed between his Pack Alpha and Yuya. This kind of thing often happened too around the pack Alpha and Hikaru because the two of them had known each other much longer than anyone else. It was as if words had become obsolete.

_🐺_

_🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺_

**🐺**

to be continued.....

See ya when I see ya!


	5. Five

_Daiki felt warm and comfortable. The scent of his mother filled his senses and enveloped him as if nothing bad would happen to him._

_“I miss you, mama,” Daiki whispered as he buried his face into her mother’s ample bosom, tucking in his arms and legs on her lap._

_He felt her long and delicate arms around him, cradling his tiny and frail body as her fingers combed his hair with care._

_“Are you being a good boy, my sweet Dai-chan?” asked her mother in her soft voice that Daiki could never forget._

_“Yes, mama,” Daiki whispered sleepily. He wanted to sleep in his mother’s embrace forever so that he would never know pain and sadness._

_“Why are you lying?”_

_Daiki frowned. “I’m not lying, mama.”_

_“I’m so sad that you lie to me, sweet baby.”_

_Daiki wanted to cry. Why did his mother not believe him? Was it because he didn’t do what the doctor had told him before and ran away? Daiki curled tighter, pressing his face into his mother’s soft and warm skin harder, inhaling her comforting scent._

_“You’ve promised not to cry, sweetheart or they will hurt you. I can’t bear to see my baby in pain.”_

_“It’s because I miss you, mama,” Daiki mewled._

_“I‘m with you in your heart forever, sweetie. You have to be stronger. Crying will only bring you more pain and you’ve brought others to suffer the pain with you. Why baby?”_

_Daiki knew that he would not be able to hide anything from his mother. He felt guilty for getting Ryosuke caught together with him. These horrible humans must have tortured him too just because Ryosuke had helped him because Daiki was too weak._

_The realization that he had caused Ryosuke, the very first other beings who had called him a friend, the same pain that he should have had endured alone was weighing down on his mind. The calm and warm feeling around him dissipated and was immediately replaced by tremendous pain. He felt as if his insides were being burned slowly while hot tiny needles were pricking into each of his pores. He could not move his limbs. He could not see anything, could not hear anything, and could not even scent anything. He was not sure if he still had a body or he was just a thought caught in a limbo, cursed to feel pain for eternity. It was at a time like this that he wished he did not have a werewolf gene in him. Without the regenerative mechanism that kept his body alive after being inflicted by so many tortures, he would have had died a long time ago. Then, he would be with his mother._

_But he could not die just yet. He needed to get Ryosuke out and away from that place. He would not let his friend suffer the same fate as him just because Ryosuke was kind enough to take pity on him._

&&&

Yuto tentatively stepped closer to where Ryosuke curled on the floor right in front of the cage’s bars. The bento box prepared by Hikaru earlier was held tightly in front of his chest. There was no sound coming from the cage since the sole occupant looked to be sleeping, although not restfully. 

Daiki looked worse compared to when Yuto visited him a few days ago. His skin was pale and sallow with yellowish spots that appeared all over his rapidly thinning body. His muscle mass was almost completely gone. He looked more and more like Keito when they first found him. Hikaru said that the substance that was injected into Daiki’s system was ten times more fatal than the one that was ailing Keito. Keito’s poison was designed to only weaken his body and hinder his regenerative mechanism since the humans did not intend to kill Keito. They only wanted to subdue him and use him as an object of their experiment. 

The yellow liquid that was injected into Daiki was designed to instantly kill the victim at once. It was a type of chemical weapon that was probably going to be deployed in a war. Hikaru said something about Daiki’s past that greatly helped his body to withstand the chemical’s effect. Yuto could recall the moment it happened. If only he was fast enough to intercept the human scumbag and kill him before he could inject that damn needle into Daiki’s neck. He was glad that Daiki killed him slowly and made him suffer before he finally bit the dust. Still, Yuto could envision a far worse fate than that. Seeing two of his pack mates in severe conditions like this made Yuto hated the humans even more. 

Looking around the floor, he decided to put the box a little farther from where Ryosuke was sleeping before reaching out his hand to wake him.

“Ryosuke,” Yuto called slowly. His right hand hovered hesitantly over his sleeping pack mate’s shoulder. Ryosuke was famous to have a temper that always erupted whenever anyone made a slight comment about Daiki’s past. Yuto might not understand the bond between the twins because he joined the Pack long after them but he understood that no one could come between them. 

A light touch on his shoulder woke Ryosuke up and the boy instantly stretched his hand out, reaching into the cage, desperate for contact with Daiki’s limp form. 

“Dai-chan?” Ryosuke called. His raspy voice was just a tad louder than a whisper. 

Yuto waited a bit, looking into the cage to see if there was any reaction from the cage’s sole occupant but Daiki did not even stir. “Ryosuke, I come to bring you your dinner,” said Yuto. 

Ryosuke quickly turned around and crouched on the ground, hackles raised. Yuto hurriedly fetched the bento box, showing it to him. He waited until Ryosuke’s sleep-addled brain fully registered the situation and retracted his claws before edging closer. 

“Hikaru packed it for you,” told Yuto but Ryosuke did not seem to be interested in it. Seeing that Yuto was not a threat, he quickly turned around again and slipped his hand through the cage bars to hold onto Daiki’s slack hand. “You need to eat, Ryosuke. Alpha’s order,” Yuto added as an afterthought, thinking that even Ryosuke would not dare to defy their Alpha. 

The shorter wolf just grunted, ignoring him completely. Yuto decided to use another tactic. He opened the bento box and brought it closer to Ryosuke. He even went as far as waving the content of the bento under Ryosuke’s nose, tempting him with the mouthwatering smell of delicious food. Ryosuke spared him an irritated glance before diverting his eyes again. 

“Alpha caught several fishes this morning. It’s been a while since we ate fish, right? Come on, try it, please. It’s yummy. Oh, do you want me to feed you? You don’t have to let go of Dai-chan’s hand if you don’t want to,” offered Yuto. Ryosuke sent him a glare but Yuto was undeterred. “I think Dai-chan would hate it if you’re intentionally neglecting your health,” he said. 

“Not even Hikaru could tempt me with that. What makes you think you would succeed?” Ryosuke grouched. 

Yuto shrugged unabashedly. “It doesn’t hurt to try. But you really need to try this, come on! It’s a waste of good food, you know.” 

“Why don’t you eat it if you like it so much,” grumbled Ryosuke. 

“Why are you being difficult? Everyone is worried, you know. Alpha, Hikaru, Yuya, Yuri, and me. We are all trying our best to help Keito and Dai-chan. Even Kei didn’t sleep for three days to find a cure for both of them. The least you can do is to take care of yourself and not adding to our worry.” 

“Go away,” Ryosuke said in a flat tone. 

Yuto snorted in annoyance. “You’re really stubborn and selfish!” Yuto put the bento box down on the floor next to Ryosuke’s feet and left it there. “Eat or don’t, just do as you wish!” 

Yuto stomped his feet up the stairs, grumbling under his breath about the obstinacy of werewolves with a small stature but when he was already halfway up the stairs the door to the basement was opened to reveal Yuya. He quickly traced his steps down to let Yuya through. He knew that the Alpha had asked Yuya to bring Ryosuke out of the basement. He just did not know how the older wolf would do that and Yuto was curious to find out. Out of the Pack members, Keito was the closest to Ryosuke besides Daiki. Ryosuke respected Yabu as the Pack Alpha and deferred to him in terms of Pack matter but even that respect was not absolute and often challenged. 

“Ryosuke, the Alpha has sent for you,” said Yuya. 

As expected, Ryosuke did not even move a muscle. He did not even acknowledge Yuya’s presence. 

“Ryosuke, get off the floor and come with me. I won’t repeat myself!”

Yuto held his breath. Yuya sounded annoyed. Well, to be fair Yuya sounded and looked annoyed most of the time. The older wolf preferred to be left alone than to mingle with the rest of them, which made Yuto believes that Yuya must have thought of them as annoying pups. Yuto was getting anxious the longer Ryosuke ignored Yuya’s order. He truly hoped that Ryosuke listened to Yuya. He could feel that things would end badly if he did not. 

There was a low growl coming from the older wolf that made Yuto involuntarily shuddered and the tall wolf widened his eyes when Yuya stepped closer towards where Ryosuke sat on the ground. He grabbed Ryosuke’s arm and dragged him up but the smaller wolf would not yield so easily. 

“NO! Let me go, Yuya!” Ryosuke screamed with his left hand grabbing hold of the cage bar so tightly. 

Yuya let go of Ryosuke’s right arm and wrapped his own arms around Ryosuke’s torso to forcefully drag him away but the smaller wolf used both of his hands to hold onto the bars instead. There was a few moments of a power struggle between the two of them that actually looked kinda funny. If the situation were not so dire, Yuto would definitely laugh until his stomach hurt. It was clear that Ryosuke who had not even eaten properly the last few days was no match against Yuya. He started to lose his grip on the bars and desperately kicking the bars with his feet before pushing his body backward and rammed the back of his head against Yuya’s face hard. 

“Argh! Damn it!” Yuya let go of his arms around Ryosuke and grabbed his bleeding nose instead. “Your stubborn head is really not just a figure of speech.” 

Ryosuke sneered as he crouched on all four and snarled at Yuya menacingly. Yuto thought that Ryosuke would shift into his wolf form and fight Yuya but he did not. He just growled at the older wolf, claws unsheathed and fangs out. 

Yuya’s patience looked to be wearing thin with lips thinning and face turning sour. “Don’t make things difficult, pup. Just come with me.”

“Make me!” Ryosuke hissed. 

“As you wish it.” 

The next second after he said that, Yuya pushed forward aiming for the shorter Ryosuke unprotected neck but Ryosuke used his smaller stature to his advantage. He grabbed Yuya’s wrist and kicked the taller wolf’s stomach with his left foot, using it as a foothold, so that he could swing his right foot upwards and smack Yuya’s under the chin with the sole.

Yuto had seen both Yuya and Ryosuke fought their enemies. He had been hunting with them too on separate occasions. Although Ryosuke and Yuya were strong on their own, they never fought each other. Both of them had a different fighting style that made Yuto curious about who would win if they really had it out on each other. Therefore, though he felt guilty for wishing it concerning the situation, Yuto could not help but be excited when he knew that both Ryosuke and Yuya were actually going to fight each other. 

Every wolf knew that the area under the chin was the softest part of their body. It was the body part that they showed to their enemy whenever they admit defeat and show deference. When Ryosuke’s attack came, Yuya seemed to have already known what Ryosuke was aiming for. So, he quickly shifted the center of his gravity and leaned back a little that made Ryosuke’s sole only grazed his chin which in turn made him lost his balance. Ryosuke did not give Yuya a chance to correct his stance though. The moment his feet touched the ground after somersaulting, Ryosuke jumped forward with his clawed hands up, ready to slash but what Yuya did was surprising. 

The taller wolf did not even try to regain his balance. Instead, he let gravity pulled his body down to hit the ground, giving Ryosuke ample opportunity to ram his claws into his stomach. He let Ryosuke slash several deep cuts on his stomach and chest. Blood splattered the ground around them; some of it even stained Yuto’s shirt and feet but Yuto did not even dare to interfere. 

Yuya grabbed the back of Ryosuke’s head, pulled on his hair, and forcefully flipped the shorter wolf on his back before landing a hard punch on his jaw. Ryosuke must have thought that Yuya would continue to hit him because he was hurriedly shielding his face with his hands but Yuya snatched his left wrist instead. The older wolf stood with Ryosuke’s left hand held tight in his own left hand while his right hand grabbed hold of Ryosuke’s left ankle. He pulled both appendages over his shoulders in an odd rucksack carry, hauling a screaming and struggling Ryosuke up the stairs. 

“Damn! Guess the lone wolf is scary after all,” mumbled an astonished Yuto who followed them both at a slower pace. 

“Let me go, you bastard! I won’t leave Dai-chan! He needs me!” Ryosuke screamed his lungs out, crying, begging, and even threatening to kill Yuya. He kept struggling, trying hard to get Yuya to let go of his hand and leg but with his right arm and leg dangling above the ground his effort seemed futile. 

“Ryosuke, I think you should stop struggling. It’s useless, you know,” commented Yuto hoping that Ryosuke would listen to him for his own sake. 

“Fuck you, Yuto! Shut up if you won’t help me!” Ryosuke spat. “I swear Yuya. If Dai-chan gets worse it’ll be on you, you hear me?! You’re the one who's going to kill Dai-chan! Let me go you piece of shit!” 

Yuto just rolled his eyes exasperatedly. Ryosuke’s behavior really got on his nerves sometimes. He did not know how Daiki could stay being his best friend for so long. He knew that Ryosuke was not usually this violent. Excluding the few occasions when his temper got the better of him, he was fun to be around most of the time. He loved to joke around with the Pack and lent them all a helping hand or two whenever they need it. Though he loved competition too much to be considered healthy, it was mainly because he was a passionate individual in the first place. Ryosuke never backed down from a challenge. Yuto admired that trait in him. 

When Yuya crossed through the basement doorway, Ryosuke sized the opportunity to grab the door rim with his right hand and hooked his right ankle onto the doorframe. 

Yuya growled. “Yuto, get him off the door!” he ordered. 

Yuto quickly did as he was told, dislodging Ryosuke’s tight grip of the door rim and got three deep slashes on the wrist for his trouble. “Ackh!” 

Grinding his teeth in annoyance, Yuto clamped his left palm on the torn artery on his right wrist to stop the gushing of blood and angrily kicked Ryosuke’s right leg off the doorframe. 

“Nooooooo… let me go!” Ryosuke roared loudly. 

Ryosuke screamed and snarled but Yuya paid him no mind and kept walking. He tried to claw Yuya’s feet and managed to inflict several artificial wounds but it did not deter Yuya from his pace. Then, Yuto saw Ryosuke swung his right appendages in the air trying to flip his body up. The odd angle made his effort almost futile but after several try Ryosuke’s right hand managed to grab a fistful of Yuya’s shoulder-length hair, forcing the older wolf to halt his step. 

“Damn you stubborn little brat!” Yuya snarled as he flipped Ryosuke over his shoulder and hurled the smaller wolf to the ground. 

Ryosuke hit the ground on his front but quickly rolled away before Yuya could grab him again. He quickly righted himself up and scanned his surrounding before darting off again towards the basement. 

Yuya who had predicted his movement swiftly intercepted him. He caught Ryosuke around his middle and threw him away. It happened three more times with Ryosuke trying to run back to the basement and Yuya intercepted him before he could even reach the basement door. Both of their bodies were full of deep scratches and blood from their fight. It was clear that Ryosuke did not intend to attack Yuya. He just wanted to return to the basement and Yuya also tried not to hurt Ryosuke more than he had to in order to stop him from going back to the basement. 

Their screams and shouts summoned the other Pack members out of their lodgings. Alpha Yabu came out of the main house and Hikaru was seen running out of Kei’s lab while Kei just leaned his body on the doorframe, yawning and looking half-asleep. From the corner of his eyes, Yuto saw Yuri stepped out of the woods with a bamboo woven basket on his back. He must have been in the garden tending for the plants. It was usually Keito’s task but Yuri had been overtaking his duties lately. 

“Yuya, just let him go!” shouted Yabu. 

Upon hearing the Alpha’s order, Yuya who already got Ryosuke in a chokehold on the ground reluctantly released him. The smaller wolf instantly sprang and ran towards the basement with Yuto right on his heels. 

The moment Yuto’s feet stepped down from the stairs, he could hear the clanking sound of the chains and pitiful cries from the direction of the cage. Daiki looked to be in another episode of his spasms where his limbs were jolting around uncontrollably. Ryosuke tried hard to reach out to him from outside the cage. 

“Dai-chaaannn… Dai-chan gomen neee… I didn’t mean to leave you but they forced me to… please forgive me. I promise I won’t leave you again… please hold on Dai-chan… pleaseeee… pleaseeee…” Ryosuke mewled as he curled on his side on the floor, holding Daiki’s limp pale hand through the bars.

Yuto stayed near the stairs, refraining from coming closer. Considering the previous fight, Yuto was worried that Ryosuke’s reaction would be even more violent if he came any closer. Ryosuke would definitely consider him a threat but even observing from a distance was hard. Ryosuke’s nonstop cries and Daiki’s awful condition had put his own heart in agony. It made Yuto’s chest tight and heavy. Not wanting to witness more of that, Yuto quickly ran up the stairs to where Yuya, Hikaru, and the Pack Alpha had gathered. 

“The fuck are you saying Yabu? You asked me to get him out of the basement and I’ve had him subdued just now,” Yuya grouched. 

“Hold still,” muttered Hikaru as he was inspecting Yuya’s wounds. He lifted Yuya’s chin, squinting his eyes on the blue and black bruises on Yuya’s under chin and neck. “Heh, you’ll live. You’ve had worse than this.” 

“You’ll only hurt each other and that’s not what I want when I asked you to tempt him out of the basement,” Yabu said which was answered with a grunt from Yuya. 

“Go back upstairs, Kei-chan! Everything’s taken care of!” shouted Hikaru towards Kei who was already slumping on the floor right in front of his lab’s door. 

“At this rate, we’ll be losing two wolves instead of one. If Dai-chan doesn’t get better…” Yuya trailed off.

“He will get better. We can’t afford any loss.” Yabu took a deep breath before addressing Hikaru. “How’s the research going?”

When he was sure that Kei has returned upstairs, Hikaru diverted his attention towards the Alpha. “Just one more step left before we can get the result. However, I’ll be very worried if this latest batch of serum doesn’t work. The latest blood work I get from Dai-chan’s blood sample is not good. His cells are breaking apart. I don’t think his regenerative system will hold out much longer.” 

Yabu gripped Hikaru’s left shoulder and squeezed it. “I have my confidence in you and Kei because no one knows werewolf’s genomics more than you two,” said Yabu staring intently at him. 

“That’s a way to put a burden on someone’s shoulder Alpha,” Hikaru grumbled. 

Yuto stayed quiet as he observed the conversation between the older Pack members but Yabu noticed him anyway. “Ah, Yuto, have you given Ryosuke his dinner?”

Yuto nodded hesitantly before answering, “But he still hasn’t touched it because … because …” He was not sure if he should tell the Alpha about what he saw in that basement, about how fast Daiki’s condition was deteriorating. But then again, they would probably have known already. 

“Thank you, Yuto. Ryosuke is stubborn. No one can make him do anything he doesn’t want to,” said the Alpha to Yuto with a reassuring smile. 

Alpha Yabu knew his Pack well. Yuto was sure that he also knew about Yuto’s feeling of resentment towards Ryosuke’s attitude earlier. Now, he felt guilty about it. 

“I’ll return to the lab. Will inform you as soon as I get the result, Alpha,” promised Hikaru.

The Alpha left to return to the main house while Yuya quietly walked away towards the direction of the garden. Yuto did not see Yuri nearby, so he thought the smaller wolf would probably have returned to the main house. Yuto thought that he should probably go home and wash up as he planned to stay at Keito’s bedside again tonight. Hikaru’s voice stopped him before he could leave, though. He saw the Pack healer was looking at him with a frown.

“Are you okay, Yuto?” asked Hikaru gesturing towards Yuto’s bloody wrist.

The latest incident made him forget about his own wound but when Yuto checked his wrist, he was glad to find out that the bleeding had stopped. “It’s fine,” confirmed Yuto, showing the Pack healer his healing wound.

Hikaru nodded looking relieved. “Good! I’m leaving Keito in your care again tonight, Yuto,” the healer said, clapping Yuto’s shoulder with a small smile before leaving to go back to the lab to work on the serum. 

“Of course!” Yuto said, readily accepting the task.

to be continued ......

**Author's Note:**

> AN: Anyway... This fic will be updated until the release of Jump's newest album Fab! Music Speaks


End file.
